Nursing student come April

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Hey everyone! I am 21 years old and graduating with my GED in February. I am very very excited to go to college and be that much closer to my passion!

One thing that really bothers me is when people ask what I want to specialize in with nursing, and I reply with "licensed mental health nurse" they look at me like I am an idiot or insane. Truth is, I am so fascinated by the mental health field and I have such a huge heart for them. Mostly because I myself struggle with several issues such as depression and borderline personality disorder. I understand where they come from. I spent a good 3 months bouncing in and out of psych wards and mental health facilities and several suicide attempts. I get it. And I know my experiences will make me that much more of a great nurse.

I am going through a local community college in spring into the nursing program and then transferring to a university with one of the best nursing programs in the state to get my BSN. I am so excited I can't stand it! I have done so much research on the speciality and looked up all the prerequisites I need and applied and just waiting for the financial aid to go through.

Anyways, sorry this is so long, I guess I am just anxious to start school and angry that people don't take my passion and career choice seriously. :/

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Specializes in RN-BC, ONC, CEN... I've been around.

My 2¢ and take it as such... I did 3 years of psychiatric nursing and I loved every minute of it. That being said I would be very careful about how you present yourself and your past admission history to potential coworkers and employers. One aspect of borderline personality disorder might be especially concerning and that would be adhering to boundaries. In psych it's absolutely essential to maintain boundaries between yourself and your patients. I know that you want to help people, but announcing your axis ii diagnosis will send up red flags in this specialty.

Good luck with school, it's a lot of hard work but definitely worth it.

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Thank you for your input. I do not plan on sharing my history of psychiatric experiences to anyone. I just want to be able to use my past to help others through, as I know there is a light on the other side.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

Congrats on your upcoming graduation and nursing school journey! Very awesome. Keep the passion and excitement and best of luck to ya!

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Hey everyone! I am 21 years old and graduating with my GED in February. I am very very excited to go to college and be that much closer to my passion!

One thing that really bothers me is when people ask what I want to specialize in with nursing, and I reply with "licensed mental health nurse" they look at me like I am an idiot or insane. Truth is, I am so fascinated by the mental health field and I have such a huge heart for them. Mostly because I myself struggle with several issues such as depression and borderline personality disorder. I understand where they come from. I spent a good 3 months bouncing in and out of psych wards and mental health facilities and several suicide attempts. I get it. And I know my experiences will make me that much more of a great nurse.

I am going through a local community college in spring into the nursing program and then transferring to a university with one of the best nursing programs in the state to get my BSN. I am so excited I can't stand it! I have done so much research on the speciality and looked up all the prerequisites I need and applied and just waiting for the financial aid to go through.

Anyways, sorry this is so long, I guess I am just anxious to start school and angry that people don't take my passion and career choice seriously. :/

Congrats on starting the journey towards nursing! I admire your ambition and drive to help others who are going through what you've gone through. I just wanted to mention a couple things, as I've been in a nursing program before (and I'm currently finishing up my pre-reqs for the RN program). Are your health issues well controlled? You don't have to go into any detail on a public forum, of course. I only ask because you say you struggle with several issues, and have made several suicide attempts. Being a former nursing student, nursing school is brutal, and one of the hardest things you will go through, mentally and emotionally, as far as education goes. And in doing so, you will meet some extremely strict and hard-nosed instructors, both classroom and clinical, and likely even clique-ish and competitive classmates (though this isn't always the case, as far as classmates go). With instructors though, I had some that made even the few men in our class cry. It's extremely high stress and high anxiety.

I definitely think you should follow your heart and pursue nursing if that is your passion, but just make sure that your mental health is in a good place and under control. You will be challenged mentally and emotionally, and for anyone that struggles with illnesses such personality disorder or depression to the point of several suicide attempts, you want to make sure that you are under the care of a good mental health physician and have your illnesses under control so that any emotional stress caused in nursing school will not be a setback for you.

Good luck in your journey towards nursing, it's a wild ride!

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I am in a really good place in life. I had a life changing event occur and I got everything together. I am on meds that keep me very stable, and I am involved in therapy and support groups. I want to use my past struggles to help someone else. And that is what I fully intend on doing.

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Congratulations!! :) I am super excited for you!

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That's great, good luck!

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